"There is only one power that determines the course of history . . . the power of ideas." — Ayn Rand

Monday, January 21, 2008

Excerpts 7- Rudy Giuliani for President-1

“Giuliani, as mayor, surrounded himself with loyalists and treated those who criticized him as enemies. He picked fights with the unions, with his police commissioner and with nearly all of the city's African-American leadership. So if he acted the same way as president, who would stand up and tell him when he's wrong?”

Translation; Rudy Giuliani is not a mealy, me-too politician who compromises away any principles he may have in order to not “pick a fight” (Of course, .the “unions,… his police commissioner and… nearly all of the city's African- American leadership” would never “pick a fight” with the Mayor!)

But it is precisely Giuliani’s willingness to “pick a fight” with the American Left that draws me to him. It’s not that I necessarily agree with him on every issue. And it’s not that he has never “moderated” his views on some issues for political reasons. Every modern politician does. But when Giuliani firmly believes that he is right, as Mr. Moran correctly points out, he has the gutsy, tough-skinned willingness to “go to the mat” for his beliefs.

This election is shaping up to be a classic battle of the individual against the state. The Democrats across the board have come down clearly on the side of the state. Their “championing” of the children, the poor, the uninsured, etc., is just mawkish posturing to cover for what looks to me to be the most openly statist agenda to be put forth by any political party since at least 1972. The Dems have produced a bumper crop of candidates trying to outdo each other on who would be most effective at wielding the government’s coercive power to impose his economic “vision” on private American citizens.

At this point, only one side of this battle has been joined. The GOP candidates, by and large, offer only watered-down statism in some form. Of the major candidates (Huckabee, Romney, McCain, and Giuliani), only Giuliani shows the potential to break out with an explicitly pro-individual stand. For one thing, he is not beholden to the activist Religious “Right”, which has its own authoritarian agenda. Second, he has promised not only to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, but also to introduce the largest tax cut in American history if he takes office. In addition, he has vowed to make “school choice” (i.e., educational freedom) a major component of his agenda. Another area of hope (if you believe in individual rights and self-determination) is in the area of health care, where he has offered market-based solutions that mostly reduce government’s role (though admittedly not nearly enough). This all points generally in the right direction.

What’s missing is a bold policy statement explicitly defending the individual’s right to be free from government’s coercive intrusion into his private economic affairs. I’m referring here to a broad philosophical declaration of principles uniting his issues under the banner of individual rights, from which he can give Americans a clear “choice not an echo” (to borrow a phrase). Armed with this explicit declaration, he will be able to clearly and unequivocally lay out an agenda that is diametrically opposed to the other side and at the same time strip away the Democrats’ façade and expose their fundamentally socialist agenda for what it is.

Engaging the individual’s side of the coming battle will require two things… extraordinary inner guts and fortitude, and a strong philosophical platform based on the rights of the individual. Of the major GOP candidates, only Giuliani, I believe, has the first. What’s missing, so far, is the second.

About Me

Greetings and welcome to my blog. My name is Michael A. (Mike) LaFerrara. I sometimes use the pen or "screen" name "Mike Zemack" or "Zemack" in online activism, such as posted comments on articles. “Zemack” stands for the first letters of the names of my six grandchildren. I was born in 1949 in New Jersey, U.S.A., where I retired from a career in the plumbing, building controls, and construction industries, and still reside with my wife of 45 years. The purpose of my blog is the discussion of a wide range of topics relating to human events. My analysis is informed by the principles of Objectivism, the philosophy of reason and independence originated by Ayn Rand.

As Rand observed: “The professional intellectual is the field agent of the army whose commander-in-chief is the philosopher.” I am certainly not the philosopher. But neither am I a field agent, or general. I am a foot soldier in that Objectivist army that fights for an individualist society in which every person can live in dignified sovereignty, by his own reasoned judgment, for his own sake, in that state of peaceful coexistence with his fellow man that only capitalist political and economic freedom can provide. While I am a fully committed Objectivist, my opinions are based on my own understanding of Objectivism, and should not be taken as definitive “Objectivist positions.” For the full story of my journey toward Objectivism, see my Introduction.

One final introductory note: I strongly recommend Philosophy, Who Needs it, which highlights the inescapable importance of philosophy in every individual's life. I can be reached at mal.atlas@comcast.net. Thanks, Mike LaFerrara.

Recommended Essays/Videos

Quotes I Like

Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.—Francisco d'Anconia

I love getting older...I get to grow up and learn things. Madalyn, 5 years old, Montesorri student, and my grand-daughter

The best thing one can do for the poor is to not become one of them. Author Unknown

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. Francis Bacon

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Ronald Reagan

Thinking is hard work. If it weren't, more people would do it. Henry Ford

Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries. Ayn Rand